In Trump v. Hawaii, the U.S. Supreme Court decided with Trump, allowing the Muslim Travel Ban to stand. The shocking 5-4 ruling was issued on 26 June.

The Genocide Report accepts no funding from any government agency.

Your tax-deductible gift will help us to continue our work.

U.S. Withdraws from U.N. Human Rights Council

As of June 20, 2018, the United States officially withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council

Genocide Prevention

Working together, we can prevent mass atrocities and end genocide.

Search ...

U.S. Withdraws from U.N. Human Rights Council

By Lara Kajs

As of June 20, 2018, the United States officially withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council. The decision was linked to bias against Israel by the United Nations, as well as the acceptance of countries with long-standing human rightsoffenses as members to the council.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley made the announcement stating the council has become a “protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias.” The examples Haley issued were the Congo, Venezuela and Iran – all countries with deplorable human rights records. But then she said this: “I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments, on the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.”

These comments come a few days after the U.N. High Commissioner issued his own observation regarding U.S. human rights violations, especially as they related to the issue of separating children from their parents at the border, calling it unconscionable and likening it to child abuse.

The decision to leave the UN council and the tunnel vision that the Trump administration has for Israel, gives excellent insight into its limited human rights policy. The attempt to discredit the rights council is a standard play by the Trump administration: blame someone else to keep the attention off oneself.

However, it missed the mark when it failed to recognize that the U.N. Human Rights Council has played an integral role in South Sudan, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea.

Nevertheless, if blaming the rights council for being biased against Israel was not enough, the administration next blamed human rights NGOs as the reason for the U.S. withdrawal from the council. However, the NGOs pushed back. The fact is that non-government organizations, by their very nature do not work on behalf of government agencies. They work independent of government agencies and country administrations to maintain a level of impartiality and to prevent any bias or perception of impropriety. To blame human rights organizations for the decision to leave is a reach, to say the least.

Therefore, the decision to leave the U.N. Human Rights Council falls solely on the Trump administration. And let’s be honest, given the momentum of the administration, it is doubtful that it would even be possible for an outside organization to cast that magnitude of pressure, that could cause the U.S. to break its commitment to the U.N. Human Rights Council, or standing for human rights around the world.

With all of that said, it is true that the rights council needs to make some changes. The argument that the council does not do enough to address membership eligibility is a solid argument. As a human rights NGO, arguing for perpetrators to held accountable in a country known for rights violations such as rape as a weapon of war – and the same country holds a seat on the council, is defeating. If a country is accused of, under investigation for, or is committing rights violations unequivocally, it should be disqualified from having a seat at the table.

What does all this mean? From a purely human rights standpoint, the United States had a real opportunity to impact positive and meaningful changing from within the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is unfortunate that the U.S. would rather quit under some unbelievable pretense, than stay and work for change. More than that, the U.S. just gave up a vote on the council by walking away. Any chance to impact change ended when the Trump administration gave up the seat.

Salil Shetty, the Secretary General Amnesty International said it best: “Engaging only with those who agree with you would surely leave you with an ever-shrinking group of people to take to.” But also, quitting, or taking the low road because you did not get your way will also leave you both very unpopular and with a limited group to interact with, not to mention reduce your credibility on a larger scale.